Monday, August 11, 2008

Here's a short film (along with some photos) from the fabulous heirloom tomato tasting at Wild Boar Farms on Sunday. It was a great event, and the tomatoes were as delicious as advertised. After gorging on these just-picked beauties, the thought of eating conventional tomatoes seems ridiculous.

You just can’t fight Mother Nature. There are only a few months a year when you should eat fresh tomatoes. Sorry, that's just the way it is. But, the good news - this is one of them!

So, after watching this, figure out when the next local farmer's market is, and get some real tomatoes. As far as ways to eat them - keep it simple - it doesn't get much better than olive oil, salt, maybe some fresh basil and cheese, on crunchy grilled bread. Enjoy!

15 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Yum!!! Looks absolutely delicious. Tomato sandwiches on a summer day bring back memories. My favorite tomato dish is my 'italian spicy tuna ball'--a hollowed tomato with cold raw fatty tuna packed into it topped w/ feta or mozarella (in a bowl add the tomato pulp to the tuna along with some red hot peppers and a dash of soy or fish sauce for spice).

Or for simplicity--a thick chilled tomato slice on warm toast with salt, pepper and a hefty dollop of home made Mayo. Tomato lovers like me say thanks for the vid here Chef John! -cb

Thanks! You give us spome great recipes the least to do is share some favorites in return. My italian spicy tuna ball is like a spicy tuna roll you get from a sushi bar--except you use tomato instead of seaweed and rice. Most excellent--I'll send you my exact recipe if you want to try or make your own variation from the description. Works well with yellowtail too but tuna is best. Anything with tomato is wonderful for summertime foods. -cb

I am so jealous. I am now living in AZ, where you can't find good tomatoes to save your soul. Even the ones at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's are lacking. If you are lucky, during a very small window of time starting the end of June, in certain farmer's markets, you can get good home-grown tomatoes, but not heirloom ones, at least not that I've found so far. I used to grow my own in WA, and despite the weather, the right varieties would usually do well. I miss that so much. Even if I had land here in Tucson, the weather and soil doesn't lend itself to many veggies or fruits, aside from olives or citrus or avocados. Oh, how I miss the Pacific NW!!

I have 4 tomato plants. They grow so many tomatoes that I can't keep up with eating them. I did make salsa with a couple of batches. I love home grown tomatoes. Those tomato plants look healthy and huge.

If more people would actually have the opportunity to taste a good, fresh, home-grown tomato (though this could go for so many veggies), we would have more kids and adults willing to eat their veggies. Even if you only have a nice windowsill in an apartment, home-grown tomatoes are well worth the effort, and are completely different than those pathetic things sold in the store.

I have my own tomatofarm in Sweden. Just as you say the taste of sunripe tomatoes in odd varieties is nothing you find in the supermarket.Seem to be a nice event. Got some inspiration for my production 2010.